Master Builder

Bruno Blumenfeld ( Political Paul: Democracy and Kingship in Paul’s Thought (Journal for the Study of the New Testament) ) argues that Aristotle is lurking behind Paul when the apostle describes himself as a “wise master builder” (1 Cointhians 3:10): “Aristotle calls architectonike a master art or, rather, a science, which subordinates all beneath as an architecton does his workers, and he makes politics such a science par excellence. For Aristotle, politics is a grand practical science, ‘the most authoritative art and that which is truly the master art . . . . ‘The political philosopher, writes Aristotle, ‘is the architect of the end,’ that is, the builder of public happiness and political good.”

Similarly, “Paul speaks of himself as an expert in the science of community-building, of politics, and he bears witness to the popularity of the ‘building’ trope.” In 1 Corinthians 3, “Paul speaks of working with God . . . to raise a structure ( oikodome ) on a foundation ( themelion ) that is Paul’s alone. Paul constructs a political theory for Christianity. His central practical preoccupation is the community – the founding and building of communities . . . . He draws borders, organizes crowds, sets rules, creates a government, gives a constitution.”